Accident in Mercer kills 2 enlistees

MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police are still trying to determine the details of a multivehicle accident that killed two young Oil City men who were traveling to Pittsburgh to enlist in the Army. Brad A. Knight and Daniel R. Daubenspeck, both 18, died early Wednesday when the car in which they were riding crashed into other vehicles in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 in Findley Township, Mercer County, around 5:30 a.m. The driver of their car, identified as Staff Sgt. Laurence G. Stein, 29, of Russell, Pa., suffered minor injuries in the crash. He is an Army recruiter and was treated at United Community Hospital in Grove City. What happened: Scott Black, Mercer County deputy coroner, said that Knight, riding in the front passenger seat, and Daubenspeck, riding in a rear passenger seat, died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police said only that the accident occurred when the four vehicles in the crash reached an icy section of the road that caused the drivers to lose control and run off the road. The other vehicles involved were driven by Kathleen Currier, 45, of Youngstown, a tractor-trailer; Jose Samano-Amezcua, 24, of Portchester, N.Y., a Ford Explorer; and Pedro Daley, 25, of Bronx, N.Y., a car. Samano-Amezcua had a passenger in his vehicle identified as Manual Coyt, 26, also of Portchester, and Daley had two passengers, Pablo Daley, 25, and Javon Jones, 23, both also from Bronx. Police said Currier was treated at United Community Hospital, and Samano-Amezcua and Coyt were taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. A hospital spokeswoman said this morning that Coyt was in stable condition but that Samano-Amezcua wasn't a patient. Police said Pedro and Pablo Daley and Jones refused treatment for minor injuries.

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